Palestinian official: detainee tortured to death in Israeli prison

Monday, February 25, 2013 - 01:31

Feb. 25 - Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli forces in the West Bank after the Palestinian Minister of Prisoners' Affairs says a Palestinian inmate who died in an Israeli prison was tortured to death. Sarah Sheffer reports.

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Israeli soldiers fire stun grenades at protesting Palestinian youth in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The clashes erupted on Sunday after a Palestinian detainee died in an Israeli jail.
A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said that 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat had apparently died on Saturday of cardiac arrest.
An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said.
But the Palestinian Minister of Prisoners' Affairs said on Sunday that the inmate's autopsy indicated that he was tortured to death.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISSA QARAQEA , PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF PRISONERS AFFAIRS, SAYING:
"There were visible marks in the autopsy that made it clear that the detainee Arafat Jaradat was badly tortured, which caused his immediate death."
At Ofer military camp on the outskirts of Ramallah, clashes continued on Sunday.
Tension over the issue of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel has risen over the past few weeks, with mass protests in support of four Palestinian inmates on hunger strike.
Jaradat was arrested this week under suspicion he was involved in stone-throwing that had wounded an Israeli in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians are calling for an international investigation into the cause of Jaradat's death.